The stretches of brilliance obscured by the disasters don’t matter at present.

Sure, those moments where the Chargers have looked like a really good team the past two games could one day prove to have been foreshadowing. But so far in this season in which the onus is on the Chargers to show they are different, all they’ve shown is that they have a glass jaw.

So, as of now, I’m not sure what would make me believe my guy won’t be gone at season’s end. I have little reason to be confident I won’t be proved wrong, that it will turn out Norv Turner can’t win a championship with the Chargers after all.

Head coach Norv Turner
40% (809)

General manager A.J. Smith
12% (243)

Quarterback Philip Rivers
4% (84)

None
4% (81)

All
40% (803)

2020 total votes.

I was resigned to that even before I talked to A.J. Smith Tuesday afternoon. And then, well, catch Smith in a mood and it really gets interesting.

“We have some outstanding, talented players on this team and some outstanding coaches across the board,” the Chargers general manager said. “But obviously we cannot play as a team. We appear to not be able to handle adversity or finish games. Individual and team confidence appears to be going south.”

To my thinking, those words could hardly have been more damning had Smith actually stated that Turner was on the plank.

Smith would not state that, by the way.

Using as an entree Tuesday morning’s news that Philadelphia Eagles Head Coach Andy Reid, who makes the football decisions in that organization, had fired his defensive coordinator, I asked Smith if it were possible Turner or any other coaches could be jettisoned during the bye week. (I knew it wouldn’t happen, but I had to ask.)

“We have 10 games left and are tied for first place,” Smith said. “No matter how low we may feel at the moment, we will rest up and get ready to find a way to win the Cleveland game. That’s the only thing that matters right now.”

Smith actually expressed confidence.

“Can we flip the funk we find ourselves in?” he said. “Absolutely we can. With the bunch we have in our locker room, that’s what I expect to happen.”

Of course he would think so.

Barring a total collapse, I believe Chargers President Dean Spanos intends to keep Smith after this season.

But let’s be real about that.

One of the emphases by Smith this past offseason was to bring in veterans of such ability and character that they would be able to prevent prolonged in-game and in-season slumps.

If those players can’t conspire to stem this hemorrhage, then what does that say about the job Smith did? It says he didn’t do a good one.

“I take full responsibility for the present mess this team is in at this point in time,” Smith said. “The construction and direction of this organization is on my watch. In the next 10 games we will either rally and see a slow, steady rise from the ashes to a division championship – or the beginning of a new era in Chargers’ football.”

Believe that.

I know Spanos was appalled that his team could allow the New Orleans Saints three fourth-quarter scores on Oct. 7. And what happened Monday night made that look like nothing.

The drubbing by the Denver Broncos was historic. The Chargers led 24-0 at halftime and lost 35-24, as Denver became the first team in NFL history to have faced such a deficit and come back to win by double digits.

Even given to the whims of an owner who thinks highly of him and granted him a reprieve following last season, Turner can’t survive those kind of collapses.

Spanos blew by me on Tuesday en route to a meeting looking as angry as I’ve ever seen him. I said, “How’re you doing?” He didn’t slow down as he replied, “I’ve been better.” Perhaps he just got word he didn’t save 15 percent on his car insurance after all. But I doubt it.

I think it had more to do with him sharing in his G.M.’s assessment of the state of the team.

“It was an embarrassing and humiliating performance by a team going in the wrong direction fast,” Smith said. “We played a team that’s coming together fast and building confidence. Peyton Manning had one of the greatest second-half performances I’ve ever seen in my time in the league … We have dropped three out our last four games (and lost) on back-to-back national broadcasts. We are about as low as a team can get right now and going into the longest bye we will ever experience.”

Dean Spanos doesn’t fire people easily and certainly doesn’t do so without much deliberation and until all the information is in.

This team doesn’t stop melting away its promise, though, and his decision this time is inevitable.